We think we predicted this some years back. If Sara Mearns was going to get a Juliet, it would probably be Ratmansky's. And yes, it will be so.

On June 16th in Toronto, Sara will dance Juliet opposite Guillaume Côté's Romeo which will mark his retirement of the role at the National Ballet of Canada.

Patience wins.

. . . the azaleas in Damrosch Park, that is.

        It's not that there wasn't some of that going on last night at NYCB, too.

        Terrific debuts, a long anticipated return, and a more successful cohesive effort among corps members marked this third performance of the spring season.

        Isabella LaFreniere's debut in Concerto Barocco was nothing short of stunning. Such surgical precision coupled with daring space-gobbling we rarely have seen in this ballet. Her entrance variation with its off-balance developpes and literal musicality was so bold and fearless that it brought back memories of the courageous dancing of Jennie Somogyi.

        After an absence of several months due to injury, Sara Mearns returned with her own successful debut in Concerto Barocco partnered by Russell Janzen. The choice for her comeback was a bit risky, but this dancer has never been one to shy away from risk either. We look forward to seeing the LaFreniere-Mearns-Janzen trio again on Saturday evening.

        It would seem that when the principal cast of Concerto Barocco is as statuesque as last night's, the corps should also be made up of similar women. However, this corps, on its third try, achieved better uniformity than in the opening two performances.

        We've seen enough of Kammermusik No. 2 to "get it" and appreciate the difficulty of dancing the complex choreography. But really, how compelling would it be without the swinging ponytails? Seven performances of this ballet may be over-kill.

        It was hard to believe that we were, for the very first time, seeing Tiler Peck in Raymonda Variations, a ballet previously painted with the individuality of Violette Verdy and Kyra Nichols. All of a sudden the dancing matched the dreamy, classic beauty of the landscape scenery. A whiff of lilacs, a warm breeze to the face, the freshness of a new perspective — it was all there. So individual and so lovely. We loved the spontaneity of Tiler's musicality — it just came out of her like a birdsong. Her pas de deux with Joseph Gordon was sublime and offered a beautiful soft quality in the arabesques and port de bras. Gordon created his own Romantic universe augmented by impressive variations with skimming brise voles and easy, buoyant grand allegro.

        The soloists had mixed success. Olivia MacKinnon's first variation began successfully but then faltered with limping hops on pointe that went nowhere. Baily Jones made no mistakes in the second variation but made no impression either. Christina Clark was gorgeous in the fifth variation and showed incredible control of all that natural length. Mary MacKinnon showed once again that she's a jewel worth polishing and polishing in her debut of the sixth variation. Malorie Lundgren managed the seventh variation competently but without being very interesting. These soloist sections of Raymonda have missed Ashley Hod's and Sara Adams' contributions. They also could have benefited from Emma Von Enck, Alexa Maxwell, Brittany Pollack, and (when are we going to see more of) Naomi Corti.

        Our H.H. Pump Bump Award, flammes de Louboutin, is bestowed upon Isabella LaFreniere for her blistering debut in Concerto Barocco.

        Not everyone was in full bloom last night at the opening performance of NYCB's spring season, but we balletomanes didn't care. Spring season always starts with peeks at new growth; it doesn't start at the peak.

        We fully enjoyed the cool commonalities in the pairing of Ashley Laracey and Unity Phelan in Concerto Barocco. Showing the beauty of the steps and musicality were their goals, and both dancers delivered with their customary selfless generosity. Ashley's delicate, sweeping limps and Unity's softly curving lines complimented one another. There could have been more of a daring stretch in the two legged slides that rotate to a penche arabesque but that's probably not something we should expect to see in a debut. Tyler Angle's partnering was, of course, perfection.

        The corps de ballet of Barocco is traditionally a cast of very senior corps members. There are reasons for it which became evident last night when several less senior dancers were inserted among the consummate precision of Olivia Boisson, Jacqueline Bologna, and Mimi Staker. Oy, was there some messiness. Their minds were not of one, that's for sure. But there was also a stunning example of pure devotion to exacting efficiency. We're talking about Lauren Collett who is one of the most organized, efficient, clear-speaking, get-it-right-every-time, right-on-the-money-while-always-looking-calm-and-lovely corps women we have observed in quite some time. Ava Sautter was also disciplined and able to keep up with the senior dancers.

        The entire cast seemed initially surprised by the blessedly speedy tempi; but after a few deep breaths, most seemed to catch their strides. Looking forward to tonight's second try.

        Not even Andrew Litton's charming and humorous "See the Music…" segment sold us on Kammermusik No. 2. It's more of a technical exercise than a ballet. However, right away we noticed the difference in Emilie Gerrity's dancing. Gone was the stress. Gone were the anxious expressions that sometimes conveyed that she was torturing herself with self-doubt. She was confident, stylish, bubbly, and at ease with the ridiculously complex musicality. Mira Nadon shone in her solos and bravely plowed through the vexing duet with Emilie where Mira had to dance the same steps but one-eighth note behind Emilie. The women were ably partnered by Harrison Coll and Aaron Sanz. They and the men's corps of eight clearly enjoyed only having to share the spotlight with two women — albeit two major ballerinas. All the men were well-drilled; Davide Riccardo and Christopher Grant stood out for the purposefulness of their dancing, and well yes, their legs and overall handsomeness.

        Raymonda Variations was a magnificent showcase for the speed and clarity specialties of Megan Fairchild and Anthony Huxley. She, always bright and musical; he, always elegant and humble about his absolute mastery of his craft. We have to grant him the occasional luxury of the moment as in last night's ridiculous balance off of a pirouette where he finished in a still pose with his back to the audience.

        Some of the soloists fared better than others. Emily Kikta astonished with her control of her long limbs in the rond de jambe movements. Claire Von Enck had sturdy hops on pointe, but they didn't travel on the diagonal as they should have. Lauren Collett impressed with her polish, efficiency, and calm beauty. Unfortunately, the duo of Emily Kikta and Nieve Corrigan in the final grand allegro had some fouetté issues. They fell far short of the Emily Kikta/Ashley Hod duo from last September. Nieve wasn't up to the tasks in either Raymonda or Concerto Barocco. Rommie Tomasini's spirited dancing made us look forward to seeing her much more — the sooner the better.

        Even though Kammermusik No. 2 was our least favorite piece of the evening, the poise-filled performance of Emily Gerrity in it made us extremely happy. The H.H. Pump Bump Award, a cool sandal with an untethered strap, is bestowed upon Emily. Can't wait to see what's in the works for her for the fall season.

We're literally fainting over the fall season. There are so many different programs that will bring such joy to the faithful and so much opportunity for so many dancers to shine. We may end up penniless, but we'll be happy!

Jewels
Western Symphony
The Unanswered Question
Tarantella
Stars and Stripes
Bouree Fantasque
Agon
Slaughter
Apollo
Sonnambula
Tsch Piano Concerto #2
Concerto Barocco
Prodigal Son
Symphony in C
Serenade
Orpheus
T&V

Winter and spring seasons bring extreme joy, too:

Fancy Free
In the Night
The Four Seasons
Barber Violin Concerto
4Ts
Liebeslieder
Ballo
Halleluja Junction
The Concert
Symphony in Three Movements
Tchai PdD
Stars & Stripes

They're going to be dancing their feet off all year. Finally, such a fabulous sense of programing.

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Just dropping in to say how incredibly excited we are about ABT's new Wheeldon production of Like Water For Chocolate that will open at the Segerstrom Center in one week. Old Hag would be there for the premiere but for a very recent knee replacement.

Christopher Wheeldon's growth as a choreographer/producer/director/visionary over the past decade has been nothing short of phenomenal. The rehearsal clips for this new production that are floating around are turning us into Chocoholics. We can't wait. Hopefully, ABT will launch a slick promotion campaign very soon. This production, if carefully promoted, should attract Broadway audiences as well as audiences for every genre of dance. We want to see Cassandra Trenary at the bus stop, underground, in Times Square, and in the Playbill at MJ, the Musical.

ABT single tickets go on sale April 24, 2023. Let's go let's go let's go.

        New York City Ballet closed the season with a terrific Sleeping Beauty that was a mere handful of balances short of spectacular. But we'll take it and be thrilled.

        It had been a stressful, head-scratching, hand-wringing 72 hours since Thursday's Sleeping Beauty which turned out to be like the perfect souffle that unexpectedly got knocked flat as it was nervously being pulled out of the oven. Did Chef Ramsey stop by to straighten out the kitchen staff with his charms? Whoever did, we're grateful.

        Our Aurora, Isabella LaFreniere, soared on her second try and delivered a truly beautiful, distinctive, authoritative, intelligent, principal-worthy performance. At her birthday party, Aurora was not a giggly, Tiktoking 16-year-old. Rather she was a teenager, impeccably groomed with royal manners, who was on the brink of being handed the kingdom once she found the right prince.

        Overall, the Rose Adagio was beautifully danced but for the attitude balances which while improved from the debut performance were not yet realized. However, the final arabesque balance was of such formidable shape and steadiness that we almost forgot the seven before it. Aurora's arabesque balance, rather than being static, grew and lengthened with the music. The prior attitude balances, however, were static attempts where the energy line from the foot to the head seemed perforated rather than flowing upward continuously. Though motionless, a balance is still an expansive movement — an inner flowing of energy that rises and expands right through the top of the head. It's never about holding still although it may look so to the audience.

        Hats off to The Suitors Christopher Grant, Taylor Stanley, Gilbert Bolden and especially Harrison Ball who swiftly escorted Aurora around for the final promenade before she punctuated the phrase with her exclamatory arabesque.

        The Vision Scene was nothing less than triumphant. Aurora's apparition was elegant and soulful, almost whispering warm encouragement to Prince Désiré. Peter Walker as her Désiré fit the bill from head to toe. His partnering was impeccable and his solo dancing was outstanding except for a wild pitch on a double tour to arabesque.

        The Wedding PdD gave Désiré the opportunity to display some of the most tightly zipped-up legs during double tours that we may have ever seen followed by soft landings to clean fifth positions. Aurora's Wedding variation was pure heaven: delicate pointe work, beautiful shaping of the phrases, poise, and polish. The duo's first two fish dives were magnificent in their speed and daring. The third one was a bit more tentative, but oh my goodness, what a difference from 72 hours before!

        Emily Kikta as the Lilac Fairy was gorgeous as well. Sunday's performance just seemed more expansive, more confident, more meaningful in its presentation than Thursday's had been. The spotlight adores this ballerina. It is difficult to pay attention to anyone else when she is on stage. It is our hope that her ongoing stellar contributions will soon be rewarded with a promotion. While it is true that her glorious statuesque frame might limit the number of potential PdD partners, it should not limit her accession to the principal level. After all, the absence of height that indeed has limited potential PdD partners and roles for Daniel Ulbricht did not prevent him from rising to the principal level in a mere six years. There is some distasteful incongruence in a practice of holding back women because they are deemed too tall while advancing men who are deemed too short.

        After the performance, four new principals were announced: Emily Gerrity, Isabella LaFreniere, Mira Nadon, and Roman Mejia. Congratulations to all. So now it's 13:9. Why are there 30% fewer women than men on this company's principal roster? Who do they think sells the tickets? Why are the women standing for this? Where is the union on this? Optics matter.

        But we digress . . . (on and off, now and then).

        Our Act I fairies on Sunday included Olivia Boisson as the Fairy of Tenderness, Nieve Corrigan as the Fairy of Vivacity, Lauren Collett as the Fairy of Eloquence, Miriam Miller as the Fairy of Generosity, and Olivia MacKinnon as the Fairy of Courage. Ashley Hod returned as the scene stealing Carabosse.

        All the fairies performed their traditional choreography competently but we yearned for the beautiful shaping that Jackie Bologna gave to Tenderness and the lightning force of Alexa Maxwell's Fairy of Courage that we saw over the course of the run of Sleeping Beauty. We seem to be seeing both Olivia MacKinnon and Baily Jones featured in soloist roles, but as yet neither has distinguished herself beyond getting the steps right in ordinary fashion whereas Bologna, Maxwell and Collett have continually offered much fuller framed artistry. And now we've suddenly become aware of the exquisite length and beauty of one of the newest corps members, Dominika Afanasenkov, who got a handful of performances of the Fairy of Generosity. We'd like to see more of what these special artists have to offer.

    Since we're talking about the corps members, let's talk about the corps de ballet. They were nearly perfect in Sunday's closing performance. The Lilac Fairy's Attendants in Act I and the Nymphs in The Vision Scene danced with flawless uniformity. The Cavaliers all had mammoth sissonnes.

        This closing performance was such a strong team effort with so many brilliant performances that we immediately wished that Sleeping Beauty would return again next season. It offers so much more than either of the company's Swan Lakes. And right now, the company has the exact strengths that it needs to fill multiple casts who can easily pull off two weeks of performances.

        Our H.H. Pump Bump Award, Louboutin's Chick Queen stiletto, is bestowed upon Isabella LaFreniere for her amazing comeback performance of Aurora.

        It wasn't exactly the debut we expected or wanted to see last night at New York City Ballet, but we're hopeful for a better outcome on Sunday. Debuting in the roles of Aurora, Désiré, and Lilac Fairy were Isabella LaFreniere, Peter Walker, and Emily Kikta. They all seemed to suffer from nerves.

        Aurora had troubles from start to finish –  let's look at a primary cause of many them. It has been a long, long time since we've seen a dancer knuckle over in her pointe shoe in the supporting foot as we saw with Isabella. The knuckling of the right shoe was so pronounced that it made ole Hag's foot scream with pain. How anyone could ever balance or promenade on such a knuckled over foot is a mystery. Then there were the ultra slow pirouettes. Too slow, too slow, too slow – the slowness was fatal to the fish dives – those fish were DOA. The pirouettes need to be like the snap of a finger and the flip of a coin. Big girls turn fast and always have: look at Cynthia Gregory.

        And the arabesques — everyone's arabesques — were not arabesques. They were just battements to the back with the idea that a high battement could be sold as a high arabesque. Nope, not with us balletomanes. From now on we're going to call them lemon arabesques. FYI, all you ballerinas/os out there, New York has a Lemon Law, that's right. Repair or refund.

        We did love Aurora's vertical-ness and uncluttered port de bras. It all made for a natural elegance, refinement, and sense of royalty. Her variations were quite cleanly performed. But overall, this performance was not stage-ready. Let's see what happens on Sunday.

        Our Lilac Fairy had some truly beautiful moments. The stationary shapes of her arms were exquisitely classical, but then when she started moving, the arms lost their classicism and went rather shapeless. Ick. Arabesques were not arabesques, but battements. The variations (excepting the arms & wrists & hands) were well danced and benefited from the statuesque beauty of the ballerina. Loved, loved, loved when she snuck up on Carabosse and the ensuing exchange.

        Lilac's Attendants were quite the mess. The line of them walking on pointe forward saw their heads going in eight different directions. Apologies to the couple in front of Haglund who may not have appreciated the breathy WTF.

        Actually, but for a couple of bloopers, Peter Walker had an outstanding debut as Désiré. When he arrived on stage, he demanded the viewer's attention with compelling mime and darned good dancing — except for the bloopers on his turn/jump combo in the downstage corner, precisely the same place where Huxley blew out his combo. It was hard to tell if Walker could have done anything more with the fish dives. Isabella is a lot of legs to toss upside down, and her hesitation did not help Walker's effort.

        The fairies: Ashley Hod's Carabosse was boss. All the ladies dancing this role know it's a showstopper and they all will develop their individual evilness. Hopefully, somebody will look up Betty Davis and incorporate some of her innate genius into the role. Mimi Staker, Meaghan Dutton-O'Hare, and Claire Von Enck as Tenderness, Generosity, and Eloquence were quite confident and poised. Mary Thomas MacKinnon as Vivacity was also quite assured and technically sound, but those upper legs need to turn out everywhere, every time, and the heel of the shoe needs to be presented more than it was. Baily Jones as Courage was fine but for a small slip. However, we're not sure why this dancer was featured in a role that required lightning-like crackling brilliance.  We've seen her featured in a number of ballets over the past two years, but not much growth.

        The corpsmen who were cavaliers, however, were quite handsome and noteworthy — especially Charlie Klesa, Christopher Grant, and Owen Flacke. NYCB needs to put Klesa and Grant in the front in everything. Everything. Legs, lines, handsomeness, height, and confidence.

        Looking forward to tonight and Sunday. Hoping for the best. Just a note on the lobby situation. If NYCB is going to paper the house with ticket deals and freebies, they should not make them all box office pickups. Why couldn't the extra hundreds and hundreds of people be encouraged to print out their own tickets or have what ever institution or apartment complex they're from print the tickets out? At one point last week, the house manager had to close the front doors and temporarily stop people from entering the lobby because the numbers nearly exceeded fire regulations. It was quite a chaotic situation.

Looking forward to seeing a few more performances of Sleeping Beauty and even snagged a ticket to the hour-long Family Saturday program in order to get a glimpse of Emma Von Enck's preparations for an eventual Aurora which we cruelly got gypped out of this season.

Can't wait to watch Isabella LaFreniere tackle the role for the first time. In the past, tall dancers truly excelled in the role of Aurora – Gregory, Bussell, van Hamel. Aurora will dance opposite Peter Walker's Désiré, also a debut, and her debuting Lilac Fairy will be Emily Kikta!

This is what the Rose Adagio looked like 44 years ago. Cynthia Gregory's composure, refinement, adolescent excitement and technical fortitude that could not be knocked over by a Sherman tank are on display in this clip from PBS's Live from Lincoln Center in 1979. The whole performance which includes Fernando Bujones is in the Paley Center's archives. How Eric ever grabbed this fine clip, we don't know, but we're grateful; it was a historic performance.

There is a much lesser quality grab of the Wedding PdD with Fernando Bujones here. Patience is required but once you get to the meat of meal at 1.30, it is quite glorious. Just the ultra-slow developpe with bowed head at the beginning is worth watching over and over again.

We don't expect to see the experience of Gregory and Bujones when LaFreniere and Walker land on stage this Thursday, but we're pretty sure that they aren't going to waste time getting to the spectacular. And Emily Kikta's Lilac Fairy will have no trouble clearing evil from the court.

        It may be true that New York City Ballet performs Sleeping Beauty with historically accurate tempi, but is that a badge of honor or even a good idea? The general high speed of this otherwise gorgeous production by Peter Martins (after Petipa) made the performance seem clinical, even antiseptic at times as though much of the beauty of Sleeping Beauty needed to be cleansed of its graciousness and spontaneity to make room for more and faster steps. Two exceptions were Emilie Gerrity's lovely Lilac Fairy and Jacqueline Bologna's warm Fairy of Tenderness whose strength and benevolence were fully realized in these two fine debut performances. Their exquisite lines, elegant port de bras, and flawless control delivered just the right combination of authority and grace.

        Mary Thomas MacKinnon (Vivacity), Dominika Afanasenkov (Generosity), Lauren Collett (Eloquence), and Alexa Maxwell (Courage) each were striking in their traditional Petipa solos.

        Another highlight of this performance was Megan LeCrone's debut as Carabosse — so unexpectedly and deliciously evil. She took over the stage in every scene she appeared while taunting, scheming, and terrorizing the court and fairies. This Carabosse was the strongest, most detailed character in the production. When she met up with Emilie Gerrity's Lilac Fairy, it was the battle of the eyebrows: arch vs arch. It didn't matter who won; the contest was such fun.

        Sara Adams and Roman Mejia dispatched their steps as Princess Florine and Bluebird with clarity and high energy. Bluebird's Basilio-like head throw as he was queuing up for one of his variations does not appear anywhere in the Audubon Field Guide under either feeding or mating behaviors; so, we're not quite sure what that was all about. However, Blue's diagonals were quite stunning, especially the brisé volés all of which looked like the Xerox machine gone mad. They just kept coming – one exactly like the other, over and over again. Sara's variations were highly competent, but work still needs to be done to rise above that level.

        The Court Jesters — Victor Abreu and Christopher Grant led by Daniel Ulbricht — were spectacular. Ulbricht is a true role model for high standards and consistency, and he clearly inspires those with whom he dances to reach for those heights.

        The Jewels were not exactly Van Cleef & Arpels, choreographically speaking. They could probably stand on their own or within another more neo-classical setting, but did not seem to fit well within the Petipa-based band of dances. Harrison Coll was not well-prepared for his role of Gold. Turns were messy and shuffling feet were unpointed throughout — all of which would be fine in a sneaker ballet which this was not. Ashley Hod's Diamond, Emma Von Enck's Emerald, and Malorie Lundgren's Ruby were all skillfully danced with sparkling energy.

        Indiana Woodward and Anthony Huxley as Princess Aurora and Prince Désiré fulfilled their roles and delivered some truly magnificent allegro, but the fantasy fairy tale didn't really come through. The Rose Adagio was successful, but after racing through nearly all of it, the conductor had to brake to a crawl to get Aurora through her final set of promenades and balances. Overall, Aurora's dancing felt too much like a connect-the-dots exercise with little differentiation among Aurora in the three acts.  Désiré danced brilliantly but for an oops on a turn combination. Few dancers cover space with the silken, effortless speed and breadth that Huxley customarily delivers. His Désiré demeanor was quite good, and he was of course well-matched with his Aurora. But at this performance, rapport between the two main characters was not strong. Some of the staging for Désiré is annoying, such as when he basically steps into the wings to dump his sword & hat and then has to step into the wings again to retrieve them before sailing off with the Lilac Fairy to find Aurora. All we see is his back leg in tendu as he's fussing with his stuff. It's just weird.

        The H.H. Pump Bump Award, Jimmy Choo's Evil is more fun, is bestowed upon Megan LeCrone for her scene stealing portrayal of the Fairy Carabosse.

        Last year on this date, Haglund was overjoyed at having just experienced an exquisite performance of Mozartiana danced by Tiler Peck and soloist Harrison Ball who two weeks later would finally be appointed to the rank of principal dancer, an event long overdue. We hailed his performance as a revelation, Danish-inspired, and an exceptional and startling reminder of the greatness of a past generation. And in what now seems like an eerie foreshadowing, we also noted:

As much as we love seeing Ball dance at this extraordinarily high level, we know that it often comes with great cost. We hope that this dancer will be able to intelligently moderate his intensity so that we may enjoy his dancing for many years to come.

        Here we now face Harrison Ball's premature retirement due to disabling injuries. It's terribly sad how the joy of dancing combined with the compulsion to meet standards of perfection, or even to push beyond perfection, can have such a toll. When dancers push beyond their own capabilities, they seem to have a physiological and mental need to do so. Their confidence is over-enhanced by endorphins and guided by a denial that there could be any consequence for making a herculean effort. It is a thrilling if not intoxicating way to live on the stage. But it has its costs as we continually see.

        So Harrison Ball will soon dance his final performance and will then concentrate on acting and choreography. We recently saw his first choreographic commission on stage when the New Jersey Ballet premiered his Purcell Suite, an astonishingly well-crafted, fully developed, beautiful work for twelve women with costumes designed by Zak Posen. The ballet found its first legs at the New York Choreographic Institute which provides development resources for budding choreographers. A preview glimpse of the ballet which was shown a year ago featured New York City Ballet dancers Mira Nadon, Megan LeCrone, Ashley Laracey, Ruby Lister, and Ava Sautter. Take a look.

        Just throwing this out there – why not present this ballet on the NYCB stage during Ball's Farewell Performance on April 30? Not only would it ameliorate the sadness of having to say goodbye too soon, it would happily introduce the NYCB audience to a choreographer who they can hope will one day make dances for the company that are as beautiful and sensitively musical as Purcell Suite. By the way, New Jersey Ballet will perform the ballet again on April 15 at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood.